Quiet Northern Yosemite: Hetch Hetchy (Wapama Falls) & Tuolumne / Merced Sequoia Groves

In the 19th century, conservationist John Muir wrote that Yosemite National Park contained two nearly identical glacier-carved granite valleys: Yosemite Valley on the Merced River, and Hetch Hetchy Valley 25 kilometres north on the Tuolumne River, where 700-metre granite domes (Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome) and two colossal waterfalls mirrored El Capitan and Yosemite Falls. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Congress dammed Hetch Hetchy with the 1923 O'Shaughnessy Dam for drinking water. Sitting at 1,150 metres elevation via its own road (35 minutes north-west of Yosemite Valley off Highway 120), Hetch Hetchy gets less than 2% of the Valley's crowds and is the #1 spring waterfall hike in the park.

1. Hiking to 'Wapama Falls' at Hetch Hetchy (8.0 km Round-Trip | 2.5 to 3 Hours | Minimal Gain)

Open daily during daylight hours year-round (your Park Pass covers Hetch Hetchy, and because the reservoir is municipal drinking water, swimming and boating are prohibited):

• The Walk Across the Dam & Tunnel: park beside the dam, walk across its 131-metre concrete crest looking up the fjord-like reservoir toward Kolana Rock, and pass through a rock tunnel onto the north-shore trail.
• Two Roaring Spring Waterfalls (Tueeulala & 335-Metre Wapama Falls): in March, April, May and early June (weeks before high-country trails open), 256-metre Tueeulala Falls and thunderous 335-metre Wapama Falls roar down the granite wall and crash directly beneath two wooden footbridges.

2. Short on Time for Mariposa Grove? Visit the 'Tuolumne Grove' or 'Merced Grove'

If entering or exiting via Highway 120 or Tioga Road and short on time for Mariposa Grove, Yosemite has two quiet Giant Sequoia groves at Crane Flat (25 minutes from the Valley):

1. The Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias (3.2 km Round-Trip | 150m Drop and Climb | 1 to 1.5 Hours): walks down a paved road into a pine ravine holding two dozen mature Giant Sequoias, including the Dead Giant, a sequoia stump carved in 1878 with a 3-metre-wide stagecoach tunnel that you can walk through.
2. The Merced Grove (4.8 km Round-Trip | 1.5 to 2 Hours): 5 minutes west of Crane Flat, the quietest sequoia grove in Yosemite.